When organizations embark on information integration projects, and particularly large projects involving multiple teams, one of the most fundamental documents that is usually composed is a “solution blueprint” in the form of a series of diagrams modeling the information architecture. This blueprint typically describes the information landscape of the project such that all the teams can understand both the information assets being integrated, as well as the role of each information asset within the project. Computer-based tools may be used to model an information architecture in a hierarchical manner, where an information asset in a higher-level diagram can be drilled down to expose a lower-level diagram describing that information asset in more detail.
In addition to the information architecture, information integration projects typically require the preparation of project plans and schedules indicating what and when development methods are to be performed. Unfortunately, organizations spend a great deal of time and resources managing project plans and schedules, often as a completely separate activity from managing the information architecture model and using separate computer-based tools. This often leads to a lot of manual work in crafting a project plan based on an information architecture, which is disconnected both from the information architecture and from task-related guidance, resulting in a gap between the final developed solution and the information architecture requirements.